


Drawing to an End

by Im_A_Giraffe1979



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Fluffy Ending, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Past Character Death, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 21:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16840450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_A_Giraffe1979/pseuds/Im_A_Giraffe1979
Summary: Never getting the option to bury your spouse in Fallout 4 always bothered me so I wrote this in response.“I need to find Nora but no one in town’s seen her in hours and it’s getting dark.” Danse said through clenched teeth. He forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. The synth angled his head to peer out a window.“Hmm, alright well, who saw her last?” Nick asked.





	Drawing to an End

His hands were covered in grease and dirt by the time he finally finished with the mod on Nora’s sniper rifle. Pride swelled his chest at the smart little improvement that he’d been able to add to the scope, making it night-vision. He was excited to show her, so he grabbed the gun and left, checking her little shack first, the one she’d built for herself here. It was devoid of human life though dogmeat was sleeping in the mound of teddy bears on her bed. He let himself smile a little, no matter how much trouble that dog was, he was perfect. Next, he went to ask Preston, hoping that he would know, he didn’t. The same story with most of the residents of sanctuary. It seemed like he would have to resort to asking some of the more unsavory residents of the town. He checked the building that was at the end of the cul-de-sac, she’d put up for people to hang out in and it was where all the shops were. Inside he found the synth detective talking to the ghoul vault-tec rep at his stand. As much as he hated it, he knew that the synth was probably his best chance at finding her and his worry was going to overtake his pride. The sun was beginning to set and she’d not been seen in hours so he took the steps to the counter and paused, not sure where to begin.

“You need something, metal man?” the ghoul asked. Danse bristled at the nickname but ignored it.

“I need to talk to the synth.” He replied, clenching his fists at his side.

“And what can I do for you paladin?” he asked, only a touch of snark creeping into his voice.

“I need to find Nora but no one in town’s seen her in hours and it’s getting dark.” Danse said through clenched teeth. He forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. The synth angled his head to peer out a window.

“Hmm, alright well, who saw her last?” Nick asked.

“As far as I can tell Preston did, he saw her about two hours ago, heading into her old house.” He said. 

“I see, I see. She never goes in there, odd that she’d start today don’t you think? Have you checked there and all the other buildings in town?” he asked. Despite himself Danse had checked her old house and all the rest of them as well. He felt dirty for it though, knowing she didn’t like anyone to enter that place but her and Codsworth.

“I did a thorough check of every building on the premise, no sign of her.” He replied.

“And she didn’t mention anything to anyone about leaving, doing a little solo work?” he asked, scratching at the fake skin on his chin.

“No and even if she did and didn’t tell anyone, Dogmeat’s still here, she doesn’t leave without him unless she’s going to the glowing sea. Even then she takes you with her.” He bristled at the words, understanding why she’d take the synth over himself but hating it nonetheless. 

“So, she’s not far, what’s nearby that she could’ve got off to?” he asked, staring ponderously into his face. He felt deeply uncomfortable but it didn’t last long, thankfully. The ghoul cleared his throat and spoke, “have you been up to the old vault, she might’ve ventured up that way, God only knows why though after all she’s been through there.” The synth made a noise of agreement in the back of his throat.

“That’s as good a place to start as any kid, you want me to come along, look for clues?” he asked. Danse shook his head.

“I can handle it, nothing dangerous up there anyway. I’ll report back with my findings and take a radio with me, make sure someone’s by the receiver on this end.” He said before turning and heading towards the prewar road. 

It was a surreal experience, walking up the road that she’d walked up as the bombs dropped. He couldn’t really fathom it, going from a peaceful, perfect world to watching everything get blown apart in front of your eyes. It wasn’t a long hike and soon he found the remains of vault-tec. There were trucks, portable buildings, and skeletons scattered around the imposing vault elevator. It took him a little while to figure out how to get the elevator working but once he found the controls inside a nearby shed he activated it, sprinting to reach the elevator before it dropped too far underground. If he’d been in his power armor it wouldn’t have bothered him to just drop down after it reached the bottom, but he hadn’t put it back on after finishing the mod. A good thing too since after being on the elevator for just a short amount of time a set of doors closed off the vault. 

Danse hadn’t been in many vaults and they were all a little different. Not just in build but in the horrible experiments that took place in them. He shuddered to think of the people being led into these places like cattle, thinking they were safe only to fall under dubious supervision. Sometimes he thought it was best to have been born after the war. 

When the elevator finally ground to a halt and the metal screen creaked open he was viewing a long metal hall filled with all sorts of equipment. Some of it would undoubtedly be useful to the brotherhood but for Nora’s sake he would keep them from this vault. There were others out there that they could get their tech from.

It was a giant maze down here and he felt sure that he would get lost on his search for Nora had it not been for a sound to guide him. It was someone’s voice, far off but echoing quietly through the halls. He followed it, discovering it to be a man’s voice. It led him down another two halls to a large room divided into several parts. As he made his way down one side he realized the giant cylinders on either side of him were the pods that the occupants of this vault had been frozen in. One of these had belonged to Nora. He had to tear his eyes away from the frozen faces behind the little pieces of glass and keep going. A bundle of blue fabric was lying on the patch in front of him, that’s where the voice was coming from. He could make it out now, the static in the background identifying it as a holotape. As he neared her realized that the blue bundle was Nora, on her sleeping mat, wrapped in a vault-tec blanket, passed out with her pipboy playing the same tape over and over again. He’d arrived mid-play, listening hard to the speaker.

“… will be changes, sure. I’ll rejoin the civilian workforce. You’ll shake the dust off your law degree. But everything we do, no matter how hard, we do it for our family. Now, say good bye Shaun… Bye bye? Say bye bye? …. Bye honey, we love you.” The entire thing was voiced over by a gurgling, laughing baby. The tape rewound and started from scratch. There was a loud screech, then it started.

“Oops, ha ha ha. No, no. Little fingers away. There we go. Just say it, right there, right there, go ahead…” He found himself peering inside the cryotube that Nora was curled up in front of. It was a man, presumably her husband. He looked a little like Elder Maxson to be honest, same haircut but less beard. It was hard to make out all his facial features since he was covered in a layer of frost. The baby noises continued along with the man cooing at him a little, trying to get him to speak. He felt dirtier now, interrupting on a private memory of Nora’s, one she must’ve held so closely to her heart but he couldn’t turn it off, not just yet.

“Ahh yay! Hi honey. Listen… I don’t think Shaun and I need to tell you how great of a mother you are… but we’re going to anyway. You are kind, and loving, and funny. (more giggling) ha that’s right. And patient. So patient. Patience of a Saint as your mother used to say. Look, with Shaun and us all being at home together, it’s been an amazing year. But even so, I know our best days are yet to come. There will be changes, sure.” And it reached the part he’d already heard. He looked down at Nora and her long black hair. She looked so peaceful just now and he didn’t want to disturb her, wanted to leave her here actually. It’d killed him to listen to that message from her dead husband while looking him in the face. They both had so many feelings for Nora and she clearly still grieved him or he wouldn’t have found her here. Still, he had to turn the recording off so he squatted next to her and clicked the stop button. Nora startled awake, her eyes lighting on him for a second and brightening. She smiled so brightly for him and he warmed up inside. She rubbed at her eyes and the smile faded, probably realizing that he wasn’t Nate.

“Knight… Nora. I think you should head back to the surface now, it’s not good for you to be down here.” She shook her head and sat up, her clear grey eyes focusing on him. 

“I don’t want to leave, not just yet Danse.” She said, sounding on the verge of tears. If her face was any sign of it then she’d already been crying a lot today and he couldn’t bring himself to make her cry more. 

“I don’t want to leave you up here alone all night. Are you sure you won’t come down?” he asked, hoping to persuade her but she just shook her head. 

“Stay with me Danse, I won’t mind.” She said quietly. He wanted to reach out and touch her hand, show some kind of comforting gesture but it felt wrong to do it here, at the feet of her dead husband. If it took him staying with her here all night to show his support for her then he’d do it, not happily but he would.

“Let me just go radio down to Sanctuary and let them know I’ve found you. Everyone was worried about you.” He said, leaving out the fact that no one was worried until he pointed it out to them. So, he went and rode the elevator up to get enough signal. Preston replied on the other end so Danse let him know that she was safe and that they’d return in the morning. Preston agreed though he didn’t sound happy about it and Danse returned to Nora. 

She’d found another sleeping mat for him and a blanket, good since he hadn’t brought any supplies. She was still sitting upright, leaning against Nate’s cryotube. He sat across from her awkwardly, not sure what to say. Feeling like he knew too much about her now. He lowered his head to his hands, trying to think of a safe topic to talk on. Maybe she didn’t want to talk though.

“I finished the mod on your rifle…” he started but she cut him off.

“No shop talk right now Danse.” She said. He didn’t know what to say then since he was sure she would consider anything he said to be shop talk. 

“That’s where I was… for 200 years.” She said, lifting an arm to point to the open cryotube behind him. He’d never felt a hatred for an inanimate object like he felt towards that tube in that moment. He nodded, trying to come up with a response. He couldn’t. She pulled a little sketchbook from inside her mat and a pencil, scratching at the paper.   
“What are you doing?” he asked, hoping it was a safe topic. 

“Drawing.” She replied, not looking up. He nodded again, at a loss for words. 

“I like to draw people, I like to remember their faces.” She said. He could figure out what that meant easy enough, but he couldn’t comment on it effectively.

“I wish I could do that, there’s people out there I’d like to remember better.” He said. She looked up at him, her face quiet.

“Tell me about them.” She asked, commanded. He wasn’t sure. He shrugged, disliking the topic. Still, he felt close enough to her to have this conversation.

“I’ve had lots of good men and women assigned to me over the years but the one that really sticks out to me would be Cutler. He was with me when I was a child back in Rivet City. It was a hard childhood, living on the streets, selling junk to get my next meal. But he was with me through it all and we joined the brotherhood together… Well his squad went missing while out on a mission. I volunteered for a search party, it took three weeks to find out that they'd been captured by super mutants. They were all killed except him, it would’ve been a kinder fate had they just killed him. Instead they subjected him to their forced evolutionary virus and made him into one of them. I had to put a bullet in his head… it was for the best.” He looked away from her, not sure if she’d think he was a monster for what he’d done. 

“Was that what he’d have wanted?” she asked. He’d never had the chance to really ask but knowing Cutler, he wouldn’t have wanted to live his life like that.

“I think so.” Was the best reply he could give though. He looked back up at her, seeking her approval or at least understanding for some reason.

“Then what you did was right. He probably would’ve suffered greatly, did suffer going through that change. It would’ve been a hard life, living like that. You spared him from it, even if it hurt you in the process.” He released his breath, unaware that he’d been holding it. He nodded slowly, trying to absorb her words and hold onto them for when the dreams came for him at night. Nora resumed her drawing, but her brow creased. She moved, flipping herself over onto his mat next to him, and peered through the glass.

She was drawing his nose, working on the shading. It was a good representation he thought. Nate must’ve been a handsome man. He felt a pang of jealousy and knew it wasn’t fair of him. He noticed all the other pages, the book being almost half used. 

“You’re good, what else have you drawn?” he asked, hoping to get the privilege to see. Not many people made art these days. She smiled at him brightly, excited to share her work.

“I’ll show you, only if you promise not to judge me.” He raised an eyebrow, glad for the easy conversation to distract them both from where they were.

“I promise, on my honor, I won’t judge you.” He said. He couldn’t if he tried, not in anything. Even when she’d met the railroad and said she would die for a synth, even when she’d brought that super mutant back to the castle, or been friendly with the ghoul mayor. Alright he had judged her for that, but not for long. All of it had worked out well so far. She’s shown that she would die for the synth detective and he seemed to show the same loyalty, the super mutant really only killed things that attacked the castle like the mirelurks and raiders, keeping the regular humans out of harms way, and the ghoul mayor had proven useful on several missions. 

Drawing him out of his thoughts she flipped back a page in the book. There was the ghoul himself, sitting on a bench, elbows on knees, looking out at the world around him. She’d drawn it well, capturing his ugly face in an almost bearable way, plus in this form he was silent and harmless. Another page back was Piper, working on her newspaper, another and there was the synth petting dogmeat, another and it was Strong firing the castle’s artillery, Macready sniping, Cait fighting, Codsworth, a rough sketch of what he assumed to be Nate drawn from memory, and then his own face was staring back at him. He coughed, not sure what to say. She must’ve caught him with his hood off cause his hair was a mess, but he was smiling. 

“This was after that day we spent clearing those super mutants out of Fort Hagen.” She said, flipping the page again. It was a close up of dogmeat with goggles and a neckerchief on. He laughed, of course she’d dress up the dog. Another page and it was him in his power armor, hood on this time. He was looking over some papers in what he guessed was the police station. He blushed but she was matching him so it was more okay.

“You were a good subject for some of my earlier drawings. Some evenings you’d just stand at that counter completely motionless, doing your work. You made it a lot easier than dogmeat.” She laughed, looking back down at the page. He gave a small laugh and a smile, flattered to be the subject of her drawings. More than one, which made it better than all the others who’d only gotten one. Back another page, only one left after this, and it was Haylen, posing for her. Danse smiled. Back another page and it was a rough sketch of a baby, Shaun. His heart lurched. Sometimes it was easy to forget that she was a mother, had been married.

“You’re very talented, how come I never knew until now that you draw?” he asked. She just shrugged and flipped back to her drawing of Nate.

“I try to only draw people when they won’t notice because they’re so busy or just not paying attention. Haylen caught me and decided it’d be easier to pose. I made a copy of that one and gave it to her. Otherwise she said she’d steal it from me.” She laughed lightly, still working on the shading. She’d made Nate look very handsome compared to the popsicle of a man in the cryotube. He was smiling and it wasn’t hard to imagine the kind voice that had poured those kind words out of the holotape belonging to him. He looked back up to the man, both jealous and not.

“Have you thought of having a funeral?” he asked, trying to sound sympathetic.

“None of the doors will open.” She said, putting her head down.

“We could bring the synth…”

“Nick.”

“Nick up here to see if he could get them open, it’d be good, to finally put them all to rest, don’t you think.” He finished, feeling a little more awful inside for being the one to suggest burying her dead husband. 

“Do you think he could do it?” she asked, looking up hopefully.

“He’s very good at that kind of thing. If it’s something you’re interested in, then it’d be worth a shot at least.” He said. She nodded. 

“Just Nick, tomorrow morning.” She said, focusing back in on her drawing. He nodded.

“Okay, just Nick. We’ll get him in the morning.” Danse said, settling in to watch her draw. The conversation had left a pit in his stomach and a bad taste in his mouth.   
Nora drew late into the night, several more drawings of Nate. Some of them showed him in their old home, some with Shaun, all different angles. Some of the details were fuzzy but they were good drawings all the same. He understood it, wanting to make sure she always remembered his face. He felt her pain for her and decided to stop watching her draw. He settled on her mat and laid down, watching her face as she drew.   
Eventually she grew tired and laid down on his mat, closing the book.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” It took Danse a while to drift off. The pod behind him opening startled him though as Nate climbed out, the frost melting slowly off his handsome face. Nora was still sound asleep and he tried to reach over and wake her but Nate stopped him. 

“Just a minute there, I came out just to talk to you.” He was frost free but his skin was tinged blue, his hair dripping wet. Danse rolled and sat up, not exactly feeling like to standing up to the dead… or not dead man. He felt guilty.

“I can see the way you look at my wife there buddy, and it kills me.” He stopped and sniffled a little, whether from the cold or emotions, Danse wasn’t sure.

“Then again, I’m already dead, have been for a while now and you know what killed me worse?” His voice sounded just like the holotape from earlier. Nate stood over him, dripping onto the sitting man.

“What killed me most was seeing my wife frozen for so many years and me not being able to do anything about it, my son being kidnapped and not being able to protect him, and then Nora woke up. I died a little more, watching her struggle in this shit world, watching her wander around, alone, lost, and I couldn’t protect her then either. So, when I see you out there, caring about her, taking care of her, I feel a little better. I guess I just need to know if you plan on taking care of her, however you can, for as long as you can?” a tear was streaking down Nate’s cheek but his voice was steady. Danse wasn’t prepared to be interrogated by a dead man and now he was the frozen one.

“Speak up soldier, tell me you have feelings for her cause I can see it with my own two eyes. Tell me how you feel and what your intentions are. It’s not like I’m going to tell anyone.” He shrugged, looking desperately sad.

“Yes, I have feelings for her. I’d die for her, rescue her from anything and anyone. Do anything for her.” He stumbled through it, but he was honest, and he hadn’t realized it until now.

“Good.” He said, his eyes sad.

“I just want someone to take care of her now that I’m gone. I know she can protect herself, but I feel better knowing you’re there, and if you can make her happy for the rest of her life then do it. She deserves all the happiness in the world after all she’d suffered.” He said, his voice low. Somehow this soaking wet dead man who was smaller than him was still intimidating as hell.

“She does deserve it and if I can give it to her, then I will.” He said, finally meeting Nate’s eyes. 

“Then make her happy, settle me and the rest of these folks into the ground, help her move on, just know that when you get up to the big place in the sky, you’re going to have to share her.” He said. Danse could only nod.

“And help her find our Shaun. It won’t be easy on either of you, but don’t give up. It’s important to her and to me.” He said, rubbing at his eyes.

“I will, we’ll find him.” Danse said. 

“Alright well I’m tired, let me rest soon and take good care of her.” Nate said, climbing back into the pod. It sealed around him, the loud hiss shaking Danse from his dream. He sat bolt upright, breathing heavy, scanning the room for signs that any of that had been real. There was no water on the floor and Nate hadn’t moved. Just a dream. He laid back down and faced Nora. She was sleeping quietly, peacefully. He couldn’t go back to sleep though, so he just waited for the sun to come up, turning what dream Nate had said over and over in his head. 

The alarm on Nora’s pipboy went off at eight and they rose, heading down to Sanctuary. Both were quiet. Danse was just relieved to leave the vault for a while and get some fresh air. They found Nick hanging around the garden, talking to some of the settlers. He saw Nora and his non-existent eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Look who’s back, how’re you doing dear.” She smiled at him.

“I’m okay Nick, I need your help though.” The synth smiled and followed her without asking anything more. They took him back to the vault and when he saw the pods, knowing her husband was in one of them, he wrapped her in a hug. Danse disliked it, immensely, but she leaned into it, able to find comfort in the artificial touch. 

“I’ll get them out, just where do you plan to put them all?” he asked, taking her over to a terminal with him. He began tapping and Danse just stood there unsure of what to do now.

“I was thinking all of them could be buried up on top of the hill, around the vault door. It’s peaceful and pretty up there. I’d like to put Nate in the backyard.” She said, the synth looked at her and nodded.

“I think that’d be good.” He tapped on the console for a few more minutes before the first pod opened.

“They’re all encoded, and it looks like some have been corrupted. This’ll probably take me a little while. Danse, could you maybe get some people together to start digging?” he asked without even turning around.

“Affirmative.” He replied, happy to be of use. He left the vault again, searching out Macready and Codsworth. He let them know what was happening and to meet him up on the hill as soon as they could. He thought about getting his power armor to make things easier but this wasn’t something meant to be easy so he left it, just grabbing a few shovels and heading back up. He was about a quarter of the way into one grave when he heard footsteps. Macready was leading a whole troop of people up the path. He’d brought not just Codsworth but also Strong, Cait, and Hancock who Danse wasn’t even aware was in town. 

“Alright tin man tell us what to do.” Macready said, looking at him warily.

“I was thinking the most efficient way to do this would be to dig the graves in a semi-circle going down the path. There’s around thirty people down there that need buried.” He said, looking at the faces of his helpers. Macready nodded, handing Strong a shovel and pointing to a patch of earth. 

“Dig here, six feet down, rectangle.” Macready outlined the plot for him and strong went to work, muttering about how strong he was and how he would defeat the ground. Cait and Hancock grabbed shovels and started digging graves too. Macready walked up to Danse though before starting. 

“Just know, we’re doing this for her.” He said pointedly. Danse nodded.

“Thank you.” He said, a little touched they all cared so much for her. He went to digging then. Danse finished his grave around the same time that Strong finished his first one. Strong was instructed to start another as several more people arrived. There were a few settlers, Preston, Piper, and even Deacon. Dogmeat arrived as well. Danse wiped the sweat off his brow and greeted the newcomers. Dogmeat jumped up on him and started licking him. He couldn’t help but laugh at the excited dog.

“Ha ha, down boy, down.” He commanded, petting the shepherd. He filled in the new people, who started digging while Danse went to check on the goings in the vault. He activated the elevator and got on.

“Need company crew cut?” Hancock yelled, looking like he intended to come with him. 

“I think Nora would appreciate if the people entering the vault was kept to a minimum.” He said over the loud din of the elevator.

“If you say so.” He said, laughing and taking a hit of Jet. 

Things in the vault were progressing, three pods had opened. Nora came over to him when he arrived. She gave him a kind look.

“We should start carrying them out if you’re ready up there.” She said, looking at the first few pods. 

“We are, I should warn you though, a large crowd showed up to help dig.” He said, following her to find some spare blankets. They would have to do since coffins would take too long to make. They took the first man out, laying him on the bright blue blanket. He was freezing to the touch. It was strange touching a frozen human. They covered him and walked out. The crowd gathered around them when they came up, hats off, silence. Danse led them to the first grave and lowered the man in. Hancock of all people stepped forward to speak.

“Rest in peace, you go to a better place now.” He said, very brief but kind. After that everyone gathered around Nora to hug her before getting back to work. And that’s how their morning went. Volunteers dug, he and Nora ferried the dead to the surface, someone new stepped up to say a few words for each burial. There were some tears even if nobody here besides Nora and Codsworth knew these people. They took a short break for lunch before continuing well into the afternoon. Eventually they were all buried except for Nate. Nora sent everyone back to Sanctuary, asking for a quiet ceremony in her backyard. 

Nick opened Nates pod last, hugging Nora to his side. Tears streaked silently down her face. She went up and placed a kiss on his frozen cheek and Danse looked over to the older synth for some guidance. The synth just placed a metal hand on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. It was oddly comforting. 

“Danse.” Nora said quietly. Nick patted his shoulder and gave him a little push. 

“Will you help me carry him?” she asked, looking up into her frozen husbands face. 

“Of course, Nora.” He choked on his words a little but moved on. They pulled him from the pod carefully and laid him out on another blanket. 

It was a long walk down to her house and though his muscles were burning from all the labor it was good. Nick followed them out with dogmeat at his side. Once in the backyard they found all the volunteers gathered around a grave with a marker at the head. Codsworth or someone must’ve lasered it in. The vault tec rep had arrived as well and everyone watched as Nora’s husband was finally put to rest. Nearly everyone stepped forward to say something, either a condolence or words of respect. Codsworth wept in his robotic way and the grave was filled in as the sun set. Nora had been crying the whole time and Danse desperately wanted to go wrap her in an embrace, but he knew this wasn’t the time. The crowd dispersed, taking Nora towards the cul-de-sac, insisting on some drinks before bed. Danse didn’t feel much like drinking so he chose to go to the house that Nora had set up for him. Damn if she didn’t care about everyone. She’d put a power armor station in just for him along with a nice bed and a few other things, to make sure he felt at home while he was here. It was blessedly quiet and alone, and yet not. He felt them in his chest, all the emotions bottled up over the past few days. He tried half-heartedly to repair a few dents in his armor, but it was fruitless work. 

A knock on his doorway drew him from it easily. Nora was standing there. 

“Can I come in Danse?” she asked. 

“You’re always welcome here Nora.” He said, motioning her to come in. They sat on the couch she’d had brought in and were quiet. She sat turned towards him, leaning her head on the backrest, closing her eyes. He followed suit, enjoying her quiet company. A warmth settled over his hand that was on his leg and his eyes opened. She was looking right at him.

“Thank you Danse, for everything. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.” She squeezed his hand. 

“Anything for you Nora, you deserve the best. You could ask the same from anyone here and they wouldn’t hesitate. You’re such a good person Nora, we all owe you so much.” He said, meaning every word. 

“That might be, but none of them are you. None of them have done so much for me as you have. I really mean it, thank you. You didn’t just do all the heavy lifting, you helped me through my feelings. It’s important. I know I’m surrounded by people all the time, but I feel so alone. You made me feel not alone.” She was almost whispering when she finished. He knew he shouldn’t do this, but he felt that maybe it would be alright now. He moved his hand around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest, rocking her back and forth, pressing his nose into her hair as she wept quietly. So many tears. 

“You’re important to me Nora, I’d do anything for you, even if it killed me.” He said, quietly.

“Don’t leave me Danse, I don’t know if I could stand it.” She said into his chest. 

“I won’t.” he said, knowing that was an impossible thing to know for sure. He’d be damned though if he let something come between them now though. 

“Thank you.” She said, backing out of his hug. He understood. He wiped the tears from her face gently and settled onto the couch, holding onto her hand. 

“You’ll have to let me draw you sometime, when you actually know I’m doing it.” She said. He smiled for her.

“If that’s what you want.” He said, true to his word.

“Sometime.” She said, drifting off to sleep. He held her hand until he fell asleep too, his mind quiet that night, just the occasional dream of a happy Nora.


End file.
